Goi Ga Recipes

As you may have noticed, I love sharing cooking tips. I recently told our family friend Cô Hoa that chicken salad tastes so much better if the chicken is boiled in fried-onion flavored broth. She invited us over to her house and we made a món ăn Miền Trung, "Central Vietnamese dish" in Vietnamese, called gà muối ớt (salt and chile chicken). The recipe is ultra simple. Cô Hoa assured me that all you need is the freshest chicken possible, ginger, a little chile and salt. Nothing more, thing less. The chicken is cooled to room temperature, then shredded and mixed with rau răm, a fragrant Vietnamese coriander.

You could either store the leftover chicken broth in the freezer for future use, or on the next day make cơm gà Hải Nam, which is a flavorful chicken rice. Nothing goes to waste!

The key to great, flavorful gơi bắp cải gà (chicken and cabbage salad in Vietnamese)is to boil the chicken properly. Flavoring the broth prior to boiling the chicken is essential. This is the one chance you have to infuse additional flavor in the meat. As Tatie Danielle (aunt) says, "everyone knows how to make the sauce, not everyone knows how to cook the meat properly." She used to run a restaurant in the early '90s and is the best Vietnamese chef I know.

Even though this is referred to as a salad, it is typically eaten as a main course. Not only is it a great, filling meal, but nothing goes to waste. With the leftover broth, you can make súp bún măng gà, literally bamboo and chicken rice noodle soup, or a rice congee (cháo gà in Vietnamese), which is a type of chicken and rice porridge. The porridge in particular is great in the winter. I'll post the recipe when it starts getting really cold. For now, enjoy some Vietnamese Chicken Salad!